Former ‘Law & Order’ Star Steven Hill Dead at 94

Veteran actor Steven Hill, who had lead roles in Mission: Impossible in the 1960s and Law & Order in the '90s, died Aug. 23 at the age of 94. Hill portrayed Daniel Briggs, leader of a covert-operations unit, in Mission: Impossible. He left after the first season, and Peter Graves became the face of the series.

Decades later, Hill played district attorney Adam Schiff on the original Law & Order, holding down the role from 1990 to 2000.  

According to the New York Times, Steven Hill was born Solomon Krakowsky in 1922, in Seattle. A radio career gave way to the stage, and then to television starting in 1959 on Actors Studio.

Hill’s film resume includes It’s My Turn, Yentl, Brighton Beach Memoirs and The Firm.

His final screen appearances, notes the Times, were on Law & Order.

Hill lived north of New York City in Monsey, NY, and died in Manhattan.

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.